These interesting observations from a reader:

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I am sending this to respond to a post that you placed in the comment section of one of your threads a few months ago. I was unable to successfully reply at that time.I don’t remember the article, but your comment post was concerning boys from N. Fox Island being dumped from a plane into Lake Michigan. You also noted the Lost Boys of Cass Corridor. Reading this left me with a strong sense of dread. The potential ramifications of Frank Shelden being the mastermind of the OCCK (I believe he was) are alarming. Was the OCCK just the tip of the iceberg? Although there are no specific ties of his to anyone in the Cass Corridor that can be cited, if we review Shelden’s past leading up to the OCCK crimes, it is very enlightening. I have been somewhat puzzled by Shelden’s choice of Wayne State University to get his M.S. in geology. I have the same degree.I don’t believe Wayne State had a geology department per se. I believe it was in the Earth Science department. Looks like a junk degree. He went to Wayne State in the early sixty’s after he obtained a bachelor.s degree from Yale. After Wayne State, he completed the course work for a doctorate in Geology at Michigan. He clearly could do the course work and certainly had the money to go to a blue blood school.Why Wayne State? The answers to these questions were shown to me when I did a search for the location of Wayne State. Not being from Michigan, I did a google search and Lo and Behold, I was amazed to discover the Cass Corridor was immediately adjacent to the school, only separated by Warren Avenue! After that discovery, I’ve concluded the main attraction of Wayne State for Shelden was because the Cass Corridor was next door.He was in his early 30’s during this time, many years into his pedophile gig. Wayne State itself would have offered little in the way of young victims, all were past his preferred age range.Cass Corridor on the other hand must have been a cornucopia of child victims he could rape.It is more than reasonable to assume he made the trip across Warren Avenue many, many times. He attended Wayne State from 1959 and graduated in 1962. He apparently did substitute teaching and possible taught some classes in later years. I believe the upshot of this is although Shelden can’t be specifically tied to the Cass Corridor Creeps, his connections are deep and long standing. He’d know all the players! He was right on that border for 2 Years!  A few years after graduating, he purchased N. Fox Island, certainly right off the bat with the idea to make it his pornography/pedophile paradise.  The scary thing is had N. Fox Island in 1964 and was in business until the day Gerald Richards was arrested in July, 1976. That is a 12 year reign! Once again, if Shelden was involved in the OCCK crimes, it would be reasonable to suspect this could have also been going at N. Fox. The Missing Boys of Cass Corridor could have been targeted for this. These kids might not have anyone looking after them, they could be runaways. The most important thing would be that they would be untraceable. Most of the time simply recorded as missing. There is also the matter of Shelden’s time in the Netherlands. Probably much of the same stuff. For another day. 

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Over the years I have heard from two different people who suspected Wayne State students from the 1970s (some with family in Bloomfield Hills) of potentially being involved in running kids. I call this child hunting, not child “running.” It was more lucrative and less dangerous than drug running during that era.

And I heard from two people last week who reminded me in different ways that even after millions of dollars and much spinning of wheels, it is possible someone who has never been mentioned publicly could have committed or participated in these abductions and murders. In that regard, this is from podcaster Nina Innsted:

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On February 18, 1981, 5-year-old Neely Shane Smith was playing with friends at her apartment complex off of Green Oaks Lane in east Charlotte when a man with gray hair picked Neely up and forced her inside his van.  For two months authorities searched for any sign of Neely and who might have kidnapped her.  Unfortunately on April 11, almost 2 months after her disappearance, farmers spotted human remains in a remote area of Mecklenburg County off of Union Rd, about 15 miles away from her home.  The remains were determined to be those of Neely Shane Smith.
In the months that followed, authorities interviewed 30 people and had one person of interest in the case, Fred Coffey.  Coffey lived in the same apartment complex as Neely Smith, just one building over, and told investigators that he had seen the girl playing in the courtyard on the day of her disappearance. 
Coffey was a suspect in another Charlotte girl’s death, 10-year-old Amanda Ray just 19 months before on July 18, 1979.  Like Neely, Amanda was also abducted while playing outside her home on Eastcrest Dr., approximately one block away from where Coffey and Neely Smith both lived.  Amanda was found strangled to death near a lake in the Huntersville, NC area.  In 1986 warrants were issued for Coffey’s arrest in the abduction and first-degree murder of Amanda Ray and in 1987 he was convicted of those crimes and sentenced to death. He subsequently went to trial two other times, once convicted and sentenced to death, the latter convicted sentenced to life in prison. However, Neely’s case remains unsolved.
In 2004, a witness came forward with new information regarding Neely’s case.  The individual stated that they recognized Coffey’s picture in an article regarding the murders of Neely Smith and Amanda Ray.  The witness who was a child at the time of Smith’s abduction stated that he was playing with Neely on that day when Fred Coffey pulled up in a white van telling both kids he was sent there to pick them up by their parents.  The witness said that Neely got into the van but that they refused.  Coffey tried to grab the witness but they were able to get away and run to their grandmother’s apartment, where he was visiting for the weekend.
In 2015 investigators were comparing newly-obtained DNA from Coffey and comparing it to evidence collected when Smith’s body was found.  I was unable to find any more recent articles with information regarding DNA evidence in the case or where the case is now.
Coffey is suspected in sexual molestation and slayings of children in multiple states.
Photos: Neely Shane Smith – Black and White Amanda Ray – other two photos Fred Coffey  
If you or someone you know has any information in Neely’s case, please reach out to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department at 704-336-2358 or Crime Stoppers at 704-334-1600.
*Information regarding this case was gathered from a WBTV 3 article by John Cominsky, a Washington Post article by Charles W. Hall, a WSOCTV article by Trish Williford, Justice4amanda.tripod.com, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.

I would like to see a picture of this guy from the mid-1970s, and I’d like to know where he was living at that time

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**To Ashleigh; I can’t open your email so I have not read the contents.

**Here is a link to another podcast about the OCCK case; the writer posted the link as a comment a few days ago.  “Hoping to keep bringing attention to this case and other unsolved cases. Victims deserve justice no matter how long it takes.” https://www.spreaker.com/episode/44197735

The podcaster speaks to the lack of morality and humanity in this case and I believe that extends to the Oakland County prosecutor’s office and the Michigan State Police in this case.  Podcasts, articles, documentaries, news coverage–doesn’t move LE an inch.  They have taken this position–say nothing, hide the ball, since January of 1977.  It is so obvious it is literally offensive. 

**This is the latest in the press about defrocked priest Gary Berthiaume’s arrest for second degree criminal sexual conduct for assaulting a young boy at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Farmington in 1977.

https://www.dailytribune.com/news/local/ag-more-victims-possible-for-former-farmington-priest-charged-with-sex-crime/article_cb03dda2-6438-599f-9d44-b0e6d233182b.html.

While the article is dated December 2, 2020, it notes an update as of March 31, 2021.  The delay in trying him looks like it may be due to the possibility of other charges being filed against him and of COVID related procedural delays.  

Berthiaume posted the $50,000 bond so he could remain free while awaiting trial and, according to the article, he is living in a hotel in Brighton.  The judge denied his request to leave Michigan while he awaits trial.  Whatever secret settlement(s) the Catholic Church entered into to “compensate” Bethiaume’s victims over the years, it wasn’t enough and I’m sure there are many other victims who never came forward.  

A nonpartisan fiscal note to pending Colorado Senate Bill 21-88, which would provide a new avenue for survivors of child sexual abuse to sue abusers and institutions decades later, would require the state to budget up to to $13.7 million in liability payments and legal fees for an estimated 55 child sexual misconduct lawsuits per year.  https://coloradonewsline.com/2021/04/02/child-sexual-abuse-lawsuits-could-cost-state-up-to-13-7m-fiscal-analysis-finds/.   “That’s just an estimate, since there’s no way of knowing how much sexual misconduct — both reported and unreported — has occurred in the history of publicly managed youth programs in Colorado, how many lawsuits would be filed, or how many of those lawsuits would result in a judgment against the state. But the estimate certainly paints a bleak picture, said Raana Simmons, director of public affairs for the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault.”

 An anonymous victim of childhood sexual abuse by a Boy Scout leader testified before the senate committee:  “Let me remind the committee that most sexual assault survivors are not going to come forward before the current statute of limitations,” the survivor testified. “They may come forward decades later, and we as a state must provide an avenue for this. … We are complex emotional beings that need time to process our trauma.”

A state is taking responsibility, so the damn Catholic church and the Boy Scouts can shut up and step up.  Do the right thing.  Maybe if you could keep your priests and scout leaders from raping kids and out them if they do, you could quit having to pay your whores to parse the Constitution for you and further terrorize victims during your secret settlement negotiations.

And here is another sad reminder that sexual abuse of minors by coaches and doctors and the complicit enabliing of institutions such as USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University, go hand-in-hand.  https://www.huffpost.com/entry/larry-nassar-john-geddert-gymnastics-abuse_n_6064db07c5b6adf599cc8d6c?52.  Sarah Klein, one of Dr. Larry Nassar’s first-known victims observed that “[t]he amount of effort from these organizations to continue to hide the truth is mind-blowing.”  Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, commenting on the need for an independent investigation of USA Gymnastics said, “We need to know who knew what, when, and how we can stop this from ever happening again.”

So it’s apparently fine to expend money and energy to hide the truth, write a check if caught, and then utterly fail to address systemic corruption.  I contend that is exactly where we are in the OCCK case (minus any check, of course).  And we also need to know who knew what, when, and how we can stop the failures that allowed child killer(s) free to roam Oakland County long enough for at least four kids to be murdered and for a child sex and porn ring to operate with impunity in that county in the 1970s and beyond.  We need to know why NO ONE was prosecuted in Oakland County for child sex crimes and murder during the OCCK era.  There was just “Fr.” Gary Berthiaume and he spent only 6 months in Oakland County jail for raping two boys in 1977.  That’s it.  And then he got moved from diocese to diocese, catholic school to catholic school, where he was quickly back to his old tricks.  And now, the AG has to come back in and clean up for some of his other sex crimes against children in Farmington some 45 years later.  So you can not only thank the Catholic Church, but also Oakland County for the way they did business. https://catherinebroad.blog/2020/08/16/the-solution-backfired/.

Compare https://www.abc12.com/2021/04/05/flint-man-faces-seven-charges-after-child-pornography-investigation/. Up to seven years for possession, distribution and use of a computer in a child pornography case.  Berthiaume got six months in the Oakland County jail in 1977 for raping kids in the very church he served his god in–now he awaits trial while living in a hotel.  This time it’s going to be prison, big boy.

“Victims deserve justice no matter how long it takes,” indeed.  

April 1 is the start of Child Abuse Prevention Month (as well as Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month). Today is “Wear Blue Day” as a way to participate in a national day to highlight child abuse prevention.

According to statistics, 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before they turn 18. https://www.carehouse.org/impact/. I received an email last week from someone I don’t know who pointed out that a serial child murderer and child rapist died recently of brain cancer in prison. https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/29/us/joseph-edward-duncan-iii-dies-death-row/index.html. There are other horrible discussions of this man’s life of depravity and crime online. The person who sent me the information reminded me that “Oakland County is Still a VERY SICK COMMUNITY/COUNTY.  Traffickers.” Knowing what I know now, and have tried to convey to officials in Michigan, this is no surprise.

Here is some good news. A bill in Colorado to let survivors of child sexual assault sue their abusers in civil court, with no time limitations, is close to the finish line. A second bill would allow organizations and entities such as school districts or churches that turned a blind eye to the abuse to likewise be sued for civil damages, with no expiration date. The bills would not apply retroactively, but it would affect cases of child sexual misconduct where the victim had not turned 24 by Jan. 1, 2022.

https://patch.com/colorado/denver/historic-moment-bill-let-child-sexual-assault-survivors-sue-after-many-years-nears

One of the bill’s sponsors explained:

“It feels so powerful to be able to look the survivors who’ve been working on this for so long in the eye and say ‘Look, we believe you,'” said [Rep. Dafna] Michaelson Jenet, who spoke candidly on the House floor about her personal experiences with sexual assault. SB-73 wouldn’t allow sexual assault survivors who’ve been testifying on such legislation for years to sue their abusers, she pointed out, because the statute of limitations has already expired for them. “Truly they were in this to protect the next guy or girl, and it’s been quite a battle,” Michael Jenet said of those survivors. “It’s really painful retelling your story year after year after year. And it’s the honor of my life that I get to work on this bill.”

Of course, the Colorado Catholic Conference and the Boy Scouts oppose the legislation.

Catholic group opposes Colorado bill that would give child sex abuse survivors the ability to sue their abuser at any time

Republican Rep. Matt Soper of Delta, Colorado, is one of the sponsors on both bills, partly because one statistic about childhood sexual abuse sticks with him: Victims often don’t disclose the abuse until their 50s. Surprised? Most victims of childhood sexual abuse never report at all. https://www.cc-cac.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/all_statistics_20150619.pdf

This is progress. Start by believing victims and by outing those who turn a blind eye or obstruct justice to protect predators. Money is sometimes the only language some people speak. That’s why the Catholic Church and the Boy Scouts pay their lobbyists and attorneys so well. Now they know for sure: It’s gonna cost you.